The Sword of Rhivenia is the demo version of a text-based adventure created by the team at Hosted Games. In this fantasy role-playing experience, you play as one of three heirs following a turning point known as The War of Three Brothers. Resigned and living in peace, you are invited to fight once more—whether for the throne or for the peace you worked hard to earn.

Follow an immersive, minimalist medieval tale with The Sword of Rhivenia. It has absolutely no graphics and no sound effects. It’s even more stripped-down compared to Zork: Grand Inquisitor or Disco Elysium.

Choose between peace or power

In The Sword of Rhivenia, you figure in the middle of a looming power struggle. As a promising heir—whether a prince or a princess—your decisions will guide your future. The game has an extensive and layered story, requiring you to build relationships with allies or friends, strengthen yourself, and choose battles to fight. Unfortunately, as a demo version, you won’t be able to enjoy its full 750,000-word premise.

As mentioned, it’s a stripped-down text-based adventure. Expect nothing on your screen but pages and pages of text. It doesn’t feature any background music, nor does it show you what the characters and settings look like—making it appeal to a very specific audience. On the plus side, you’re free to imagine everything as you go along, with your decisions dictating what happens next.

Since it’s a demo version, a lot of the elements are not fully fleshed out. It introduces a lot of characters, settings, and story elements that are not fully explored, some are even only mentioned once. Also, the RPG element feels underwhelming, since your build and attributes seem to have little impact on the story, making it a superficial aspect of an otherwise exciting experience.

A good tease for the full version

If you’re after full stories, even without sounds and graphics, then you can check out The Sword of Rhivenia. It works to tease and entice you into getting its full version. At the offset, it shows the player the range and the scale of its story, and the possible storylines you can pursue. If pure text-based experiences are up your alley, this is a must-try.